URC Magazine May 2024

May 2024

Dear friends in Christ,

Our new Pastorate Group is steadily being rolled-out, with Revd Sarah Hall and I having done some pulpit exchanges over recent weeks; me at Avenue St Andrews and Isaac Watts and she at Braishfield and Abbey URCs, which will be more evident in the second half of this year. Also, I will be planning to lead Sunday morning services at Bitterne and Bitterne Park URCs between July to December.

Our special celebration service will take place at Avenue St Andrews URC on Saturday 11 May at 3 pm. We hope to have people participating from all six churches, by reading or taking part in leading the prayers. We are planning a visual expression of our new unity by taking a photo of each of the six churches (or something that represents that church) and making them into jigsaw pieces which we can fit together! Revd Mary Thomas will give the address. We are also asking each church to choose a hymn to sing at the service. All together it promises to be a good and celebratory time, thanking God for His continued guidance and presence as we look to the future together.

I wonder how you see the future as we, as an enlarged Group Pastorate, seek to continue our shared mission and ministry together? There are bound to be changes afoot, challenges and joys await! But as I was preparing for the Sunday morning service at Isaac Watts URC on the 21 May, I was reminded of some verses from 1 John:

18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised)

These verses tell us how we can have boldness before God. This boldness does not derive from personal attributes or skills; Peter and John were ‘uneducated and ordinary’. Nor is it about spiritual experiences or qualities, since 1 John stresses that ‘God is greater than our hearts’.

Boldness comes from seeing God’s love in action, in Christ’s dying for us and our sharing ourselves and our gifts with our brothers and sisters. All this is the work of the Spirit, equipping us with whatever we have the boldness to ask for. Let us take courage in this reality.

On the subject of special services, our Sunday morning service at Abbey URC on 12 May will be a very special one, with Kirsty and some friends and colleagues once at The London College of Music and Trinity College of Music. They will be playing, singing and accompanying some great and well-loved hymns. There’s something to look forward to!

MORNING PRAYER

If you would like to take the opportunity to reflect upon God’s word and to pray for the needs of the world and the Church in your own time during the week, here are the Psalm and Gospel readings for May:

5 Psalm 98

12 Psalm 1

19 Psalm 104:24-34 & 35b

John 15: 9-17 or Acts 10:44-48

John 17:6-19 or Acts 1:15-26

John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-15 or Acts 4:5-12

26 Psalm 29 John 3:1-17

In Christian love, Mike

PRAYER FOR THE MONTH

For this month I have chosen a prayer written by St Anselm (1033 –1109). It is a prayer of general intercession for those in need. For many of us, prayers of intercession for others, often come after prayers for ourselves and those close to us. This is understandable because personal concerns and needs will inevitably figure large in our minds, but it can lead to an unhealthy inward-looking faith that has little in common with the pastoral concern characterised by the life and ministry of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

O Lord, we bring before you the distress and dangers of peoples and nations the pleas of the imprisoned and the captive, the sorrows of the grief-stricken, the needs of the refugee, the impotence of the weak, the weariness of the despondent, and the diminishments of the ageing.

O Lord, stay close to them all. Amen

The choice of this prayer was prompted by a conversation held after Church on a recent Sunday.

Derek H

CHURCH ANNIVERSARY Open weekend 24-25 August 2024

This year St Bartholomew’s Day, falls on a Saturday. It marks 362 years since our church founder, Thomas Warren, left his Anglican pastorate in Houghton. He came to Romsey to begin a non-conformist ministry.

It is hoped to have the church open to celebrate its foundation and over 300 years of work and worship in Romsey. The weekend will include a visit to Thomas Warren’s gravestone in the Abbey.

Part of the worn 1693 inscription reads:

“t’was

Christ he preached, lived and loved…”

THE BUILDINGS OF ABBEY URC

Romsey Local History Society has been researching properties in and around the Romsey market place and Alec Morley has been researching the URC. He will be holding a talk on Zoom about his research at 11am on Thursday 16, May 2024 entitled The Buildings of Abbey URC.

It should be very interesting to hear some details on the buildings comprising Abbey URC. Anyone is welcome to attend. If you would like to join the Zoom talk the login details are: Meeting ID: 757 2464 8159, Passcode: 030242.

THURSDAY COMMUNION

Our monthly Thursday Communion takes place at 10.30am on the fourth Thursday of the month.

We join together for a 25-minute informal service, during which we share communion, followed by chat over refreshments. We next meet on 23 May. All are welcome.

OUTREACH MEETING - 8 MAY 2024

Our next Outreach Meeting will be held on Wednesday 8 May by Zoom, 851 4528 3637 PW business. We will be looking at the different ways in which we reach out to the local, national and international communities. At our last meeting we discussed the possibility of offering a monthly afternoon tea to replace the Lunch Club we used to host in “prepandemic” days. If you are interested in helping to make these discussions a reality or have any suggestions on how this can be offered to the local community please do join us for the meeting, or speak to me beforehand.

Andy

CHURCH SALE

We’ll be holding our church sale on Saturday, 15 June in Abbey Hall from 10.30am - 12.30pm. If anyone has unwanted gifts, or items they do not use that are in good condition, we’d be pleased to have them. There will be cakes and jams by Val L as well as a raffle run by Angela and Christine. Refreshments will be served Why not pop along for a cup of tea and pick up a bargain! If you have any items that need collecting, please contact me. Thank you.

Gwen S

COMMUNION TRAINING

On Saturday 13 April, Allison Symes and I attended a training session in lay presidency at Avenue St. Andrew’s church in Southampton. We were joined by several others from the Synod, coming from as far away as Bournemouth and Maidenhead. The course is for elders and lay preachers who want to preside at communion and baptisms. My focus was on communion. The discussion initially centred around what the taking of communion meant to us and how to make it a relevant and meaningful experience for others. It was interesting to hear of the different challenges posed where there were ecumenical partnerships with people from different denominations.

If I gain the required authorisation, my aim is to help Revd Mike and the pastoral team by taking home communion to those of our congregation who are no longer able to come to church and would welcome this opportunity.

Carole

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND CHURCH MEETING

Wednesday 22 May in the

church

Our Annual General Meeting is fast approaching when we will be looking for new Elders and volunteers to fill other vacancies in the church.

We thank Sylvia, Carole and Val for their valuable contributions to the Eldership. Although their terms of office are finishing this year, they are eligible for re-election. Sarah, Howard, Wai and myself hope for at least three others to join us on the Elders after the AGM, although ideally we would like to increase to nine the numbers of Elders representing Romsey in the future.

Please note only Church Members can nominate other Church Members for election. Nominations papers will be available at the back of church from the beginning of May and can be returned to our Minister or myself before Tuesday 14 May. Details of other vacancies can be found at the back of church. Please do not wait to be asked but if you feel that you can help with any task within the life of the Church I am always willing to discuss this with you.

Andy Bevan

CHURCH GARDENING PARTY - BRING YOUR OWN TOOLS!

Last month’s magazine reported on the new arrangements for D-I-Y tasks around the church. The first of these is some basic gardening in the church grounds, including removing ivy from the end of the back entrance into the church, tidying the thin strip of garden down the side of Abbey Hall and generally tidying up the outside of the church. This does not need to be done on a Saturday but could be arranged for a midweek date mutually convenient to all. An ideal date would be during the first two weeks of May. If you can help, please let me know the dates and times best suited for you between 1 – 15 May.

Andy

BIBLE STUDY AND DISCUSSION GROUP

Our next Bible study and discussion group will take place on 5 May at 6.30pm on Zoom; ID 864 1780 6994 PC learning. We will look more deeply at the Gospel verses we hear at our morning service at Abbey URC. All welcome!

A HAZE OF DRINKING SONGS!

On Saturday, 20 April the Abbey Hall was filled with people ready for an evening full of their favourite drinking songs! The hall was beautifully decorated; and Kirsty, with assistance from Ann and David Turner, plus a guest appearance from Baz Fish entertained us with music from Carmen, folk music and even Lily the Pink. There was audience participation, and even some dancing (although, thankfully, not on the tables!!). There was a raffle, a game of heads and tails and the challenge to note every alcoholic drink mentioned in the songs! This was a larger challenge than anticipated; for those who took part and are interested there were 22 varieties mentioned!

The wonderful evening raised £356.15 towards church funds. Thank you to everyone who attended or helped, but especially to Ann, David and Baz for their performances. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to Kirsty who had the vision, arranged the songs, co-ordinated the performers and entertained us with amazing performances, as ever! Thank you all.

DISHWASHER REPLACMENT

We are very excited to inform you that Therese, who is helping us apply for funds to help with the ongoing works in our buildings, has managed to secure a grant from TVBC Community Grant Scheme. This grant is to pay part of the cost of a new dishwasher for the Abbey Hall. David and Ruth Page have kindly donated the remaining funds to allow us to replace the dishwasher. We are so very grateful to Therese for her hard work and to Ruth and David for their donations; it makes such a difference to those holding events in Abbey Hall – thank you!

AMNESTY UPDATE

The group is growing and there were an enthusiastic thirteen of us at the April meeting. We started organising a display to mark Refugee week in June and wrote letters to the Russian authorities asking for Aleksei Gorinov, a Russian man imprisoned for writing against the war, to be allowed medical treatment in prison.

John

EASTER AT ABBEY URC

Thank you to everyone who helped make Holy week so special this year. There was a great deal of work undertaken behind the scenes, which was much appreciated.

On Palm Sunday the cross outside our church was filled with palm crosses, with passers-by invited to add one during the day.

The week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday was busy in Abbey URC. Work was finished on stabilising the organ pipes and the whole area was given a spring clean. The new drapes behind the cross were delivered and hung, ready for our early morning communion the next day. The flower arrangements within church were beautiful. It is so lovely to see the different and innovative ways that are found to make us more environmentally friendly and remove the use of oasis, wherever possible.

Seventeen of us, including Revd Mike, gathered in Abbey Hall lounge to share Easter breakfast with church friends and to celebrate Easter morning together, sharing fellowship and their news. Chris also brought her beautiful Easter tree to decorate the table. It was a lovely, sociable way to break our fast on Easter morning.

Everyone brought flowers to church on Easter Sunday to decorate the cross in our front garden, and passers-by added their flowers. Thanks to the wetter weather, the cross continued to look a picture in our front garden for a whole week!

The Easter raffle raised £105 and we hope our congregation and our friends at Braishfield enjoyed their prizes! We also raised £71 for church funds at Easter breakfast.

Thank you to everyone who helped prepare the church or supported our events, we really appreciate it.

GOLDEN CELEBRATION

A gorgeous bunch of golden flowers were presented to Roy and Jeannine after our service on 7 April 2024 to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

We hope they enjoyed the celebrations –and the flowers!

THANK YOU

It was lovely to see Angela with the beautiful flowers for us both. Thank you so much, they are still looking nice. Norman is progressing with his walking and I do hope to see you all soon.

Angela P

Roy and I would like to thank you very much for all the cards and good wishes for our 50th wedding anniversary. It was a big surprise to receive the lovely bouquet of flowers in church. We are both looking forward to our 10day celebratory cruise.

Jeannine and Roy

CALENDAR

April

28 10.30am Morning worship led by Revd Mike followed by church meeting

30 4pm Planning meeting for Beggars Fair Youth event in the church

May

1 2.30pm Church Table Tennis in Abbey Hall

4 10am-12.30pm Church open for quiet reflection and prayer

4 10am-5pm Synod Big Day out at Hollycombe Steam in the Country

5 10.30am Morning worship including Holy Communion led by Revd Mike

5 6.30pm Bible Study on Zoom ID 864 1780 6994 PW learning

8 7.30pm Outreach Group meeting by Zoom Code 851 4528 3637 PW business

11

10am-12.30pm Church open for quiet reflection and prayer

11 3pm Inauguration service for our cluster at Avenue St Andrews URC

to 18 Christian Aid week

10.30am Morning worship led by Revd Mike

10.30am BALM in Abbey Hall Lounge

2.30pm Church Table Tennis in Abbey Hall

15 7.30pm Worship Group by Zoom Code 851 4528 3637 PW business

18 10am-12.30pm Church open for quiet reflection and prayer

10.30 am Pentecost Morning worship led by Derek Hiscocks 22 7.30 pm Annual General Meeting followed by Church Meeting, in church

10.30 am Mid-week Communion in Abbey Hall Lounge led by Revd Mike 25 10 am -12.30pm Church open for quiet reflection and prayer 26 10.30am Trinity Sunday Morning worship led by Revd Mike

28 7.30pm Elders Meeting in Abbey Hall Lounge

June

1 10am-12.30pm Church open for quiet reflection and prayer

2 10.30am Morning worship including Holy Communion led by Revd Mike

2 6.30pm Bible Study on Zoom ID 864 1780 6994 PW learning

Braishfield United Reformed Church

Minister: The Reverend Mike Perrott, MA 01794 512163

e-mail: revd.mike13@gmail.com

Day off: Mondays

Secretary: Shirley Smith 01794 368447

Treasurer: Sharon Whitfield 01794 521937

Serving Elders: Shirley Smith 01794 368447

Allison Symes 02380 262803

May

5 9.30 am Holy Communion led by the Minister

11 3.00 pm Inauguration Service for New Cluster for Revd Mike Perrott and Revd Doctor Sarah Hall. Service is to be held at Avenue St Andrews, Southampton. All are welcome. Refreshments follow the service.

12 9.30 am United Christian Aid Service to be held at All Saints Parish Church. Andy Bevan will be taking part in this. Please note the earlier starting time.

19 10.00 am Family Worship led by the Minister

26 10.00 am Family Worship led by Sharon Whitfield

June 2 9.30 am Holy Communion led by the Minister 9 10.00 am Family Worship led by Peter White

10.00 am Family Worship led by the Minister

10.00 am

10.00 am

Worship led by Chris Noyce

Worship led by David Stone

Please note that the third Sunday of the month is the time to bring in tinned goods etc for the food bank collection.

News from Braishfield

I’m glad to report the Communion training at Avenue St. Andrews, Southampton went well on Saturday, 13 April. It was lovely to see Carole Cox and to meet fellow Christians from Bournemouth and Swanage URCs amongst others who were there. The session was led by the Reverend Mary Thomas. It was greatly appreciated by all who attended.

The Inauguration Service for the Reverend Mike Perrott and Reverend Sarah Hall for the new cluster of churches will be held on Saturday, 11th May at 3.00 pm at Avenue St. Andrews, Southampton. All are welcome and refreshments will be served afterwards. The cluster of churches consists of Abbey URC Romsey, Avenue St Andrews, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Braishfield, and Isaac Watts, Southampton.

Also glad to report the list is filling up for the Name That Bear church fundraiser for Braishfield. The bear has been named by Alan and Dawn Smith, who kindly donated it to raise funds for us. That name is in a sealed envelope. Shirley has a list of names for you to guess at and it is £1 a go. Do contact her if you would like to have a go.

The church was thinking of Sharon as she carried out an abseil to raise funds for Pete’s Dragons, a charity which supports families devastated by suicide. She carried out the abseil on Sunday, 14 April and took the church’s best wishes with her.

This year the United Christian Aid Service will be held on 12 May at 9.30am at All Saints Parish Church. The two village churches take it in turns to host this service and it is always a joy to join together in worship, especially for such a worthy cause.

Finally, I’m glad to say Braishfield has, at last, got its smart meter for the electricity installed. It has taken a long time to get one. Well done to Sharon for getting this sorted out on the church’s behalf.

Allison Symes

WELCOME TO OUR NEW SYNOD MODERATOR

Revd Dr Michael Hopkins was inducted on Saturday, 23 March at London Street URC, Basingstoke. I was proud to attend the induction as part of the Wessex Youth Executive and to welcome Michael as our new Synod Moderator.

It was a wonderful service with music, prayer, and handshakes. The Youth Exec had a part to play as well. We were invited to lead the induction prayer, after which we presented Michael with his very own WSYE hoodie, as we believe in a strong partnership between the overall synod and its youth!

The service was followed by a lot of tea and cake. Congratulations to Michael for taking this next step in his journey of faith and support of the synod.

For those unable to join the event in person, you can watch the service using this link: https://www.urcwessex.org.uk/michael-hopkins-inductionlive-link/

Kathleen

MAGAZINE DEADLINE

Material for June 2024 to be submitted by 2pm (latest) on Sunday, 26 May 2024

Please email to abbeyurcnews@gmail.com Alternatively, you could call Carole C, pop it in her letter box, or leave in the pigeon-hole at the back of the church. Thank you.

JANE SCARTH HOUSE - MAN CHAT

Whether you have been diagnosed with cancer or are supporting someone with cancer, Jane Scarth House holds an informal group which allows you to talk in total confidence with other men who understand what you are going through. The group is held on the last Monday of every month.

These are drop-in sessions, there is no need to book, just turn up at any time between 10.30 and 12.30 in our Loft and have a cup of tea or coffee and a chat.

Photos with kind permission of Tony Brett, convenor of Wessex Synod NW Pastoral Committee

WHAT’S IN A NAME…..

Now we have the final cluster churches (Abbey, Avenue St Andrew's, Bitterne, Bitterne Park, Braishfield and Isaac Watts), we need something to call ourselves! I have seen 'South-West Hants Cluster' on some e-mails, but though that's pretty descriptiveit sounds a bit like the current South-West Hants Group taking over, which wouldn't be a good idea!

The list of names below has been suggested by people coming from most of our churches. I should be grateful if you could choose your church's top two names from this list, the closing date for responses to me will be 19 May. Unless there is an outright winner, we hope to ask our new Moderator to choose between them. Please let Revd Mike know your preferred name by Wednesday, 15 May either in person, by email or by phone.

We will be also using the different magazines to share invitations and events being held in our cluster of churches to ensure we all have a chance to attend. So, watch this space for updates from our sister churches. Many thanks!

Revd Sarah

Star Cluster Trinity Cluster

Rivers of Hope Cluster

Together Hope Springs

Mayflower Circle of churches

South East Test

Hope and Faith Together

Pilgrim Circle of churches

The Southern Fellowship

ITCHEN and TEST

‘SURCh’ - Southampton, Romsey, United Reformed Church, also alluding to our continuing searching and seeking God through Christ and his teachings.

DID YOU KNOW….

The average human walks 900 miles per year and drinks 22 gallons of coffee…..

This means that the average human gets 41 miles per gallon!

AROUND OUR CLUSTER

Bitterne URC invite you to join them for an evening of wonderful singing from the Imerys Singers Ladies Choir from Cornwall on Saturday, 18 May at 7pm. Retiring collection in aid of Christian Aid

We hope Peartree Green URC had a lovely quiz evening on 20 April and that a good sum was raised towards providing a much-needed disabled toilet.

From Bitterne URC Outlook magazine:

You never really know the true impact you have on those around you. You never know how much someone needed that smile you gavethem. You never know how much your kindness turned someone’s life around. You never really know how much someone needed that long hug or deep talk.

So don’t wait to be kind. Don’t wait for someone else to be kind first. Don’t wait for better circumstances. Just be kind because you never know how much someone needs it.

From the Beauty of Positive Thinking

CELEBRATION SERVICE

An inaugural service will be held for our new group of churches at 3pm on Saturday 11 May 2024 at Avenue St Andrews URC. It will be great if as many of you as possible are able to attend which gives us an opportunity to meet our neighbours in Christ. Please sign the list at the back of the church before 5 May if you wish to attend to allow numbers to be confirmed. If you do wish to come along, but transport is a problem, please do make Revd Mike, or one of the Elders, aware and we will do our best to help.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT….

Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people….

A heart that forgives the worst….

A mind that forgets the bad….

And a soul that NEVER loses faith in God.

CHRISTIAN AID

The total raised from all six Lent Lunches was £1,284.83. This compared to £1,094.10 for 2023 and exceeded the 2022 total of £1,275.01. Thank you to all who helped and supported these.

Christian Aid week runs from 12 to 18 May. To replace the house-tohouse collection the Romsey churches are arranging some fund-raising events during this week. Christian Aid envelopes will be available at church on 12 and 19 May should you wish to donate to Christian Aid, alternatively donations can be made through the Christian Aid web site at www.christianaid.org.uk.

On Saturday, 18 May Brian Risdale, Christian Aid Organiser for Chandlers Ford, is coming to Romsey Baptist Church Community Cafe from 10.30am-12.30am. As part of the Christian Aid Week 70K challenge, Brian will be cycling to local churches who have a Christian Aid representative to meet others and chat to them about the work of Christian Aid. Everyone is welcome to come along for coffee and cake to meet Brian and encourage him in his challenge. Watch the weekly service sheet and notices for details of Christian Aid events taking place during the week.

WHAT DO THESE WORDS HAVE IN COMMON?!

In the April magazine we asked what these words have in common. They all belong to a rare group…. which is a contronym. Single words that have contradictory meanings - they are their own opposites! These words are quite rare, and these are 10 of them.

Apology: a statement of contrition for an action, or a defence of one Bolt: to secure, or to flee

Bound: heading to a destination, or restrained from movement

Cleave: to adhere, or to separate

Dust: to add fine particles, or to remove them

Fast: quick, or stuck/made stable

Left: remained, or departed

Peer: a person of the nobility, or an equal Sanction: to approve, or to boycott Weather: to withstand, or to wear away

How did you do?

WISDOM CENTRE ACTIVITIES

Throughout the year there are varied in-house workshops, quiet days and retreats at the Wisdom Centre. These include reflection on themes within Christian and World Spirituality, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. All our inhouse days include refreshments, a simple home cooked lunch and afternoon tea.

Kindfulness: a day on the importance of self-compassion on Saturday, 18 May and facilitated by David Cole Click here to book The kindfulness concept weaves together teachings from Christianity, Buddhism, and Western Psychology. It is the intentional practice of mindful compassion and loving kindness, central aspects of Buddhism, and likewise, the Christian tradition. It is a generous orientation of our hearts toward other people in ‘agape’ love, irrespective of their actions or attitudes. Come to this day to discover practices to help increase your sense and understanding of kindfulness for yourself and others.

A Day of Wellbeing: mindfulness, yoga, sacred sound, meditation, creativity on Saturday, 15 June and facilitated by Carolyn, Fran, Helen, Lou and Yasmin. Click here to book. A nourishing and restorative day, focusing on boosting health and wellbeing with mindfulness, meditation, yoga, sound therapy, creativity and the labyrinth. All activities are accessible and optional. The day will include lifestyle and wellbeing tips and techniques to calm and relax you – mind, body and soul. The day is set in the tranquil setting of the Wisdom Centre and includes a healthy vegetarian lunch, hot and cold refreshments and afternoon tea.

Returning to Centre: mysticism of the East and the spirituality of the West on Saturday, 6 July and facilitated by David Cole Click here to book. A young Oxford student tutored by C.S. Lewis came to be known as the Benedictine priest and monk Bede Griffiths (1906–93). Bede is best known for his pioneering work in Southern India, bringing together the Christian and Hindu contemplative traditions, teaching how humanity can survive the modern social, economic, ecological and faith crises and emerge into ‘a new earth and a new heaven’. Discover more about and from Bede Griffiths’ teaching on this day.

For full details of the 2024 Events Programme, visit their website click here. To book, please email: reception@wisdomhouseromsey.co.uk or phone: 01794 830206